St. Catherine shares good news with parishioners

Friday, Feb. 27, 2015

SALT LAKE CITY — Saint Catherine of Siena Newman Center parishioners are building community this Lent by journeying together in small groups in the parish-wide program Good News People. 

The kick-off for the first seven weeks of the 14-week program began Feb. 1; the remaining seven weeks will continue in the fall. The more than 100 people participating in the program meet each week to pray, share their stories, good news, build relationships and read Scripture; all the groups do the same lessons at the same time.

“We have lost that sense of the importance of getting to know one another, and there is power when our gifts are noticed in a general and specific way,” said Father Carl Schlichte during the kick-off. “This is a way to connect to those around us.”

The program planning began about two years ago when parishioner Rich Barra “learned if you want to improve your parish, improve the discipleship of the people sitting in the pews,” he said.

Barra, a lay ecclesial minister, introduced Good News People to the parish after becoming inspired by the book Forming Intentional Disciples by Sherry Weddell; he formed an evangelization committee to set goals and sought parishioner Cate Adams to help coordinate the program.

“I had just finished an online program by Richard Rohr when Rich asked if I would help,” Adams said. “I learned if you want to be part of the parish, you’ve got to give.”

The evangelization committee, with the authorization of the parish council and Father Peter Do, who was then parochial vicar, decided upon forming small groups with a spiritual focus and building community; they wanted to educate parishioners beyond RCIA and increase participation at Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. 

This is “a social justice program,” said Barra.

“I got involved because the program was similar to Vision 2000 that I was involved in in Chicago,” said George Penz, a group facilitator and evangelization committee member. “The program relies heavily on the Gospel in the form of lectio divina and group sharing. During the week there is a theme and homework on the virtues such as faith, hope and love, and participants meditate on these virtues and also find opportunities to live them out.”

Most of the parishioners had memory of what Vision or Renew 2000 had been like in the late 1990s into 2001, and “we wanted to approximate that experience again,” agreed Kathy Scott, also a committee member and facilitator. 

Participants in Scott’s group are talking about current affairs issues, “but we do so in light of Old Testament and New Testament gospels; we consider Church teachings and actions and we share our stories, which allows us to get to know each other on a more intimate level than we could possibly get to know each other just worshipping in the pews,” she said. “Also, we are praying for one another in a very particular and intimate way; each week the program asks us to pray for one another.” 

The small groups are also “reminded that our baptismal call is such that we need to act; it’s not just about a personal, private relationship with Jesus Christ, but it’s that relationship that’s transformative; our baptismal call to act to make the world a better place,” Scott said. 

The program is set up so that if somebody misses a session they will not feel that they are behind; however, they cannot do the program on their own without the feedback and interaction of the group. 

“I got involved in the Good News program because I enjoy doing Bible study groups,” said Sarah Domyan, a parishioner. “It is always good to set aside time to read Scripture and reflect on it. It has been fun getting to know other people from the parish that I didn’t know before.” 

Parishioner Lily Keyes enjoys the group sharing and hopes to gain courage utilizing the social justice arm of the program to do more in the parish and community, she said.